On the article written by Elizabeth Bernsteain on the 25th of March, she speaks of a new addiction on campus, that I am sure most campus students can say they've heard of. This new addiction consists of using prescription medicine such as Adderall and Percocet.
This trend started not too long ago, when students started taking prescription drugs intended for people with attention-deficit disorder such as Ritalin, Adderall and others. They started doing this when they noticed that taking these prescriptions they could increase their concentration level and focus better on the material in front of them even if they didn't have ADD. So students started takiing it the night before a huge exam to study and cram all night without distractions.
Now, however, college students are starting to use more dangerous prescription drugs, such as very strong painkillers like "OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet". The use of these drugs have been increasing drastically with the years. According to the article:
"From 2002 to 2006, the annual prevalence of use of narcotics
other than heroin among college students rose to 8.8% from 7.4%,
according to a University of Michigan study funded by the National
Institute on Drug Abuse. For OxyContin, annual prevalence of
use doubled, to 3%; the use of Vicodin rose to 7.6% from 6.9%".
"In 2006, 2.2 million people ages 12 and older said they started
abusing pain relievers within the past year, with young adults
ages 18-25 showing the greatest overall use of any age group,
according to Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute
on Drug Abuse". (Bernsteain)
These drugs are becoming increasingly popular, and the main reason for this is that they are so readily available and easy to find. Most students buy them right from other students like themselves that either have them prescribed or take it from a younger brother (like the prescription drugs for ADD), or take it from their parents (like the painkillers). Another way to get these drugs is from and online drug store. Now, I dont know exactly how these online drug stores work, but im sure that there has to be some kind of regulation with what is sold and to whom it is sold to, or isn't there?
The article also says how most people dont perceive prescription drugs as being dangerous, which is true, but even Tylenol says on the directions not to exceed the amount necessary! The fact is that a drug is nothing more than that...a drug, and any type, whether prescribe and medically approven or not, if taken in large amounts can most like be dangerous to your health. Unfortunately, many students don't know this, and those that do tend to over look it confiding in the it won't happen to me rule....until it does.
Another big problem tends to occur when these trusted prescribed drugs are mixed with other prescribed drugs, which can be very dangerous.
Like with most things, the best way to prevent this is to practice abstinence....from any drug that has not been medically prescribed directly to you.
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